Son of the Mafia
by PolarOpposites21
Summary: Max has always been a bit of a "daddy's girl, perfectionist". But when she gets sick of her father's neglect, she tries to make some trouble by dating the mysterious boy from school. She is a bit disappointed when she realizes e's not interested in any of the trouble she has in mind, but soon she finds out that he's a different kind of trouble and she is in way over her head.
1. Moving In

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Fang's family, which you haven't even met yet. So why is it important?

* * *

_"Valencia, think this through. Think of what this will do to our daughter."_

_"Don't think for a moment that I'm doing this just for me. This is for our daughter Jeb. This is so she doesn't grow up with a father that's never around. I don't want her ever feeling the way I do."_

_I watched from the hallway as my parents shouted at one another in their room. Mine was completely empty save for a bed and a dresser that sat empty against the wall. The rest of my toys and clothing were in suitcases by the door. I was only twelve, but everything going on was easy enough to understand._

_We were leaving my father._

_"Having a father that's never around is better than loosing one you already have." My father, Jeb, shouted at my mother as she stuffed a small suitcase full with her clothes. Her lips were pressed into a thin line and there was a stress line between her eyebrows. _

_"I don't think you understand Jeb." My mother snapped back, her voice now scarily calm. "It's better she grows up without you. I think it'll be good for both of us."_

_"I won't loose Maximum. No matter what you think, she is precious to me."_

_"Maxine is her name, Jeb. By calling her Maximum, you're only proving what I'm saying. You are too indulged in your work. Giving your daughter a 'code name' won't stop her from getting kidnapped or making bad choices because her father wasn't around to tell her otherwise." And with that, she walked out of the room and called my name. I emerged from behind the corner and she grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the door. _

_She pulled out her phone and began to call a cab. "Max," Jeb crept up to me and knelt down so he was right next to me. He pulled me into a hug and whispered in my ear. "I don't think I'll see you for a while, sweetheart." He cooed and I felt something slip into my pocket. "That's for you, to remember me by. Don't let your mother see it." When he pulled away his eyes were gentle and he was smiling. That was the last I saw of him for five years, but I did look at my gift when my mother couldn't see. _

_It was a golden locket on a thin chain. A picture of our family was inside, and on the back, engraved in cursive letters was "To my Maximum". I still wear it now everyday. I wonder if he'll notice now that I'm coming back to live with him. Or maybe he'll be too busy adjusting to his new half-daughter._

* * *

The airport was incredibly busy for the evening. People were coming and going like nobody's business, and none of them had any trouble with shoving me and my younger sister, Ella, as we stood, half frozen inside the crowd. The whole thing was enough to make me claustrophobic.

"So Max," Ella said quietly as she looked around the mass of bodies. "This is New York?"

"Nope, this is the New York airport." I replied, trying to get my voice over the crowd. My ears had barely popped and I couldn't tell if I was shouting loudly or not. "Here, follow me." I said, grabbing one of her mint colour suitcases while dragging my own black wheelie. Why she had to choose a vintage suitcase set was beyond me. She clutched onto my arm as I led her through to the edge of the crowd and outside of the airport, into the parking lot, brightly lit from the street lights and even more so from the burning ball of energy a few miles away.

"That is New York." Said, pointing to the city that was aglow with multicoloured lights, like spray paint against a dark canvas. I heard Ella take a sharp inhale beside me, her heart racing. It was easy to forget she'd never been here. But New York was where I grew up, and after five years I was finally back for my senior year, all thanks to her.

"You ready?" I asked, my cheeks sore from all the smiling I'd been doing from my excitement. Ella's smile was a little more hesitant but with a firm nod she looked up at me.

"I was born ready." She responded before breaking into a laugh, brushing her dark bangs out of her eyes, coloured lights reflected in her irises. I hailed a cab like a true New Yorker and soon we were off to the big city.

* * *

I'd lived in New York since the day I was born with my loving mother and my hard working father. Sure it was busy and crowded, but I could never forget the sheer excitement of everyday, never knowing what to expect. I think that's part of the reason my father could never leave New York, which I guess makes it part of the reason he and my mother were divorced for five years and counting. He'd been too work crazy, and too in love with his job. Never home, never affectionate. In fact, other than bringing home money, I hadn't seen him do something nice for my mother in years. So she packed her things and mine, and we moved to Mesa, Arizona where she got married and I got a younger sister, Ella.

But now I was back, coming to live with him after five years, and bringing along my half-sister. And frankly, I didn't know what to expect.

"135 East 39th Street." The cabbie announced from his seat in the front. I dropped him a twenty before hopping out, unloading Ella and my luggage from the trunk with Ella right beside me. And as the cab drove away we looked up at the large condominium.

"What room does Mr. Batchelder live in?" Ella asked quietly, still looking up at the building.

"#3BC. And you can call him Jeb, Ella. I don't think he'll mind." I chuckled and grabbed my suitcase along with one of hers, heading towards the steps. "Come on, the elevators right inside and I'm freezing."

"This is it?" Ella asked me nervously as we stood outside the door. I nodded stiffly. In truth, I was incredibly nervous to see my father again. I'd been twelve when I left New York, so I still remembered everything that we used to do together, small paranoia's he had and how he would leave a small piece of paper in the bottom of the doorway to see if anyone had come into the apartment. "Are you going to knock?"

"Yes, I'm getting to that." I snapped a little harshly. But I didn't give it anymore thought because my knuckles were already ramming on the door. I did have a key he sent to our house back in Mesa, but I thought I'd let him get used to the idea of two other people living with him one step at a time instead of barging in waving a gun around and threatening his life. Well, Ella being the gun and his life being any privacy that would soon be invaded by me. I told you he was paranoid. It doesn't make sense, since in his job he's the one doing the hunting. I don't blame him for being in love with his job. An F.B.I agents life is his most valuable possession, but I guess that's true for everyone.

* * *

I knocked about five times in a span of five minutes before realizing that a small assumption in the back of my head was ringing true – He wasn't home. My mother told him to be there, waiting for us considering Ella hadn't ever been there before, but apparently even that was too much to ask of him. She'd wanted him to pick us up at the airport, but I quickly rejected that idea. I didn't want to get off a long flight just to see him directly after.

"Come on then, we're going in." I declared and pulled out the key from my bag, all while being very aware of the astonished look Ella was giving me.

"Are you insane?" She asked seriously. "We can't just go in!"

"Well we're not going to stand in the hallway all night. Would you rather be an intruder or stalker?" She paused a minute, giving me time to unlock the door.

"A stalker, definitely." She decided, but I had already opened the door and was on my way in. "Max! Don't go in there!" She was whispering like there was some big monster waiting to attack us if we set foot in the room.

I turned back and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the room. "Ella, this is your house now. I'm pretty sure you're allowed to live in it." I drawled but she was shouting, well more whispering, over me.

"I'll stay in a hotel till he gets back!" Was one of the things she said as she stopped fighting and I could let go of her wrist.

"That could be ages, it's better to just go in now." I pointed out. "Besides, we're already in the middle of the room." Her eyes, upon my saying that, widened as she looked around the rather large apartment. A small "woah" of astonishment escaped her mouth and I guessed it was because of the size, so I put my hands on my hips and sighed, responding with "I know. It's a mess in here."

Half unpacked boxes were sitting all over the room and the couch while small, useless trinkets sat, some wrapped in newspaper, on the counter. I think I remember him saying he was going to move in one of his letters, but I guess he never went through with it. But that was at least a year ago, and this was ridiculous.

* * *

"I think we'll share my old bedroom." I stated, not knowing what else to say. "Bu first, allow me to give you a small tour." Ella followed me timidly as I showed her each room.

The kitchen was directly in front of us and was, like any other kitchen. The counters were a grey and white granite and dark mahogany cupboards hung on the walls. Beside it was the washroom and the living room. The dining area was on the right and across from it, my old room. And finally, the furthest room from the door was the master bedroom, along with my father's small study. It was a pretty good catch for an apartment in New York. It had always been my favourite place when I was growing up, especially the time when my father was actually home. But those moments were rare, and now wasn't one of them.

"C'mon, let's go unpack." I said a bit remorsefully as I led Ella back towards my room. The first time Ella is supposed to meet my father whom I desperately want her to like, and he doesn't even show up for introductions.

I opened the wooden door, expecting to see two bed frames with sheets covering the mattresses, but this trip was so far nothing I was expecting. My room was in the same state it was in five years ago, a heavy dresser against one wall, and an old bed frame with a mattress against another. Bare, empty, untouched and very unwelcoming. At that point, the only thing I felt for my father was irritation. Sure, in the best case scenario, one of us would get a bed. But that frame was old and only meant to support a child. There was no way I was letting Ella sleep on that.

"It's..." Ella said, trying to break the silence as we stared at the empty room. I could feel my fists clenching by my sides.

"Don't say nice." I snapped and she quickly shut her mouth. I was starting to see that everything my mother had told me about my father was mostly true.

"Well, I'm tired and I want to sleep." I announced and crossed the room to the bed. "Here Ella, help me get this mattress into the living room." I said and started to lift it out of the frame. Ella, though giving me a strange look, complied and grabbed the other end.

"Why the living room?" She asked as we carried it sideways through the doorway.

"I'll put it next to the couch and we can sleep together." I explained as we leaned it against the couch. We spent the next few minutes clearing the trinkets from the couch and laying the mattress down beside it. After that, I went to an old cupboard in my father's bedroom and found the sheets and blanket where we used to keep them.

We settled in with Ella up on the couch and me down below on the mattress, cuddled up in an extra old comforter. "We'll clean this mess up tomorrow." I muttered as I reached and turned off a lamp beside the couch. Ella moaned in response and soon she was breathing heavily, fast asleep. I quickly followed suite, but all I could think about was how difficult life with my father was actually going to be, and if we even made the right decision to come. But even if it wasn't, it was a little late to change my mind now.


	2. Welcome Back

"Tell me why we decided to do this again?" I groaned to Ella. We had put the mattress back in my old bedroom and packed up all the old sheets, but the whole apartment was still a mess, we only had one day till school started back up and my father was no where to be found.

"Because you haven't seen your father in five years and when you left you weren't exactly on best terms. It's unhealthy to leave things so open ended." She answered, sitting beside me on the couch. I gave her a skeptical look.

"You sure it's that and not that you got into the Youth Symphony?" I asked, not mentioning the fact that he was her dad too. Mom had always made up the story that Ella was born from some affair she was having the year she broke up with my father, but we both knew that wasn't exactly true.

Ella shrugged. "Well, that too." I rolled my eyes as she smiled. "C'mon Max, it'll be fun. You'll get to see all your old friends and spend your senior year in The Big Apple." Her cheer level was too high for eight in the morning. When you sleep on the floor on an old mattress, you don't sleep in. Trust me.

"You sound like such a tourist." I moaned, throwing a throw pillow over my face.

"Not anymore, I live here now." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Ella pulled the pillow off my face and put it back on the couch, fluffing it before smiling. "You've lived here for 8 hours. Shall I remind you of the fact you were practically screaming like I'd kidnapped you yesterday?"

"I did not scream." She snapped at me, scowling.

"Oh you didn't?" I asked slyly before lying on my back, throwing my legs and arms up at the ceiling. "No, Max! I don't wanna break and enter my own house with a key that was personally sent to me! It's a crime to live in a decent house! I don't wanna turn out like you!" I screamed in fake agony while imitating her behavior the previous night. I didn't have to to cover my face before Ella threw the pillow she had finished fluffing before.

"Homemakers should never doubt the use of a good throw pillow." She said smugly. I smiled from under the fabric as I pulled the pillow off my face and gripped it tightly in my fist.

"Quite," I said as I stood. "They're good for straightening out your couch, and your obnoxious sister!" I yelled and threw the pillow, hitting her square in the face. She wasn't laughing anymore.

"You better run, Ride." She growled and started to reach for the pillow. But before she could do anything, there was a knock on the door.

"Ah, saved by social convention." I said, racing for the door. "Can't make a scene in front of the neighbours Ella, we wouldn't want to tarnish our reputation."

"You knocked on the door for five minutes yesterday. Some old guy came to yell at us. I think you've tarnished it enough." Ella drawled, but she did put down the pillow and smoothed down her hair.

* * *

I looked through the peephole and saw two very unexpected visitors. Not that that they weren't always welcome , but I didn't know they would come so soon.

"Do think she's home?" Nudge asked as I spied on their conversation.

"Nah, she's probably out with pops or whatever." That was Iggy, but I didn't see him through the hole. He must've been leaning against the door.

Nudge and Iggy. They'd been my friends for as long as I could remember. I hadn't seen much of Iggy lately thought, unless he was over when I was skyping with Nudge. God knew that girl couldn't let me go two days without talking to her.

I moved and pressed my ear against the door, waving Ella off as she gave me a "wtf" look. I heard her footsteps retreat into the other room.

"Well she didn't answer my texts." Nudge continued on. "Maybe she got on someone's bad side. She doesn't know about the heat yet."

"I'm pretty sure that's not it, Nudge." There was a bored tone to Iggy's voice, like he didn't want to be here. I didn't really blame him. Nudge was hard to deal with at eight in the morning. It was right after she had her coffee.

There was a small pause as Nudge thought. "Maybe she met someone!" I gagged a little in my mouth at her excited tone, but it quickly turned into her irritated voice. "Ugh, she can't do that, I already have someone lined up for her."

"Nudge, this is Max. If she's anything like she was five years ago, I'd bet five bucks she's still asleep."

"Wide awake, actually!" I snapped loudly and kicked the door where I thought Iggy's butt would be. I got a satisfying yelp from Iggy before I opened the door.

"Something tells me you were eavesdropping." Iggy muttered as he rubbed the back of his leg. Drat, I thought he'd be shorter than that. I returned his sour look though; it was something I was good at.

"You don't insult the daughter of an F.B.I agent, idiot." Nudge said, hitting Iggy with her shoulder as I scrambled to cover her mouth.

"You also don't say daughter of F.B.I agent in public, other idiot!" I whispered and dragged her inside as Iggy chuckled, his expression lightening.

"Whoa." Nudge exclaimed as we went inside the apartment. Her tone was definitely not the impressed kind.

"I know." Iggy said, his eyebrows furled. "It's a mess in here."

"Thank you two, so much." I hissed as they finished repeating my dialogue from the previous night. I didn't blame them for being critical though. They'd seen it in it's full glory when my mother lived here and it wasn't a total pigsty.

Nudge was still stifling her laughter at Iggy's "joke" when she tried to speak to me. "Do you need help cleaning or something?" She started but Iggy slammed his hand over her mouth.

"Don't volunteer me for things." Iggy hissed as Nudge pried his hand off her mouth, a disgusted look on her face.

"Ew, Iggy. Your hand smells like Gazzy." She cringed, but I didn't quite get her meaning. When I tried to ask, she just shook off the question and continued to talk to Iggy. "Besides, it's not even that baaa-" She trailed off, looking at the room again. "Besides, we're really good friends." She changed her sentence smoothly.

I shrugged. "If you guys don't mind. That we me and Ella won't have to spend-"

"Who's Ella?" Iggy asked suddenly cutting me off. I mentally slapped myself. Stupid Max.

"Yeah, where is she?" Nudge asked before leaning closer. "And how'd daddy take it?"

"Introductions first, explanations later." I growled, still sore on that subject. "Ella, Nudge and Iggy are here?"

"Nudge and who?" She yelled back from inside our room. She was probably getting dressed, otherwise she would've yelled at me for not telling me people were coming in while she was "indecent". She was a bit sheltered.

"All will be made clear when you emerge from the bedroom." I yelled back and it only took about two seconds for her to come out, fully dressed. "Going somewhere?" I asked, raising an eyebrow but she only smirked at me.

"Trust me Max, you'll know when I'm going out."

* * *

"Ugnh." Nudge moaned loudly as she flopped down on the couch. It'd taken all morning and all afternoon to finally clean out the apartment and unpack all those boxes. Sadly, no set of adult bed frames appeared from under all the junk, so I would be sleeping on the ground again. Hooray for no sleeping in!

"I am never doing that again." Iggy joined in on her complaining as he sat down beside Nudge, sandwiching her between us. "In fact, I remember saying I didn't want to in the first place."

"I chuckled and reached over Nudge to ruffle his strawberry blonde hair. "Well thank you very much for helping." I said sweetly before he swatted my hand away.

"The whole thing didn't even have to take that long if you hadn't opened the window and let in that huge wasp."

"That was no wasp," Ella chimed in. "That was the size of a freaking pigeon. And now if you don't mind, I have to remove it's guts from my hands." She got up and disappeared into the washroom, holding her hands out in front of her like they were the plague.

Iggy watched her the whole way. "She's nice." He said simply, watching me for a reaction. When he didn't get one he added, "and cute." I slapped the back of his head for that one.

"She's also twelve, so back off you pedophile." I snapped as his eyes got wide.

"She's twelve?" He exclaimed loudly before groaning and letting his head fall back onto the couch. I didn't even want to know what he was thinking about my sister.

"Oh, crap!" Nudge suddenly yelled, looking at the time. "I'm supposed to be home in ten minutes!" She hopped up, her hand nearly whacking Iggy as she ran for the door. "Ella, it was really great to meet you! Sit with us at lunch tomorrow!" She yelled and Ella giggled, her response lost from inside the washroom.

"What's tomorrow?" I asked as Iggy got up as well, walking over beside Nudge, putting his shoes on in a slower manner.

"School, duh." Nudge said as she struggled in a rush to put her shoes on. School, I nearly forgot about that horrid thing. "You can meet the rest of our group." She added as she turned to walk out the door. And then the weirdest thing happened. Iggy put his arm around her, and she didn't even shrug him off. HOW DID I MISS THAT?

"See you tomorrow Max!" Nudge squealed as the door shut and the two left the apartment. I heard the sink shut off from the washroom soon after and Ella walked out.

"They were nice." She said, looking at where Iggy had been sitting. "And cute."

"Shut up." I said as she laughed.

"I'm only kidding." She said, coming down to sit beside me. "Are you okay?" She asked after watching me for a minute.

"Did you see that?" I asked her suddenly, still in a bit of shock.

She stared at me. "See what?"

"That!" I pointed to the door while she rolled her eyes.

"I was in the washroom, Max."

"Yeah but still..." I trailed off. My two best friends, now even closer than I thought. "It's going to be so awkward! I mean, I didn't even get to make fun of Iggy through puberty and now he's dating Nudge?"

Ella gave me a shrug along with a devious smile. "Well, you may not have been able to see Iggy through puberty, but you can compliment him on how well he navigated through it."

"Stop it," I snapped, whacking her softly as she laughed. "It's not funny."

"Why else would you be so concerned?" She asked, making a kissy face at me.

"It's not cause I'm jealous, it's cause I'm-"

"In love with Iggy!" She said, now adding sound effects to her kissy face.

"Stop!" I laughed, pushing her away before I heard the door knob opening. It must have been Nudge, having forgotten something in her mad dash out the door.

"Hey, did you forget your-" I stopped dead in my tracks as a figure came through the door. He looked at me shocked before his eyes turned to Ella, widening further. I smiled awkwardly, feeling the gold chain on my neck suddenly grow very cold.

"Hi, Dad."

* * *

**If you read, I'd really appreciate a review! Comments or Criticism is welcome! Thanks!**

**-Polar**


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